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Synopsis: Samuel Johnson has a number of problems. Samuel’s dad cares more about his car than his family. Samuel’s mother is lonely, and only Samuel’s dog, Boswell, truly understands him. Oh and if things couldn’t get any worse, Samuel’s neighbours, led by the villainous Mrs Abernathy, are trying to open the gates of hell. It’s up to Samuel to stop them, except nobody will believe him, and time is running out…Now the fate of humanity lies in the hands of one small boy, an even smaller dog and a very unlucky demon called Nurd…

Me:

Another day – another YA book read

After nearly 44 years on this planet I may finally understand some science thanks to this book. Aimed at young adults Connolly discusses the Big Bang Theory in a way that the average 11 year old would get. That is if the average 11 year isn’t like I was and only interested in the bits where elements explode. Those guys should just probably keep hold of this book for 30 years and re-read it then!

I loved this. After the gloom and doom of reading Hardinge’s The Lie Tree this was a lovely change of pace and had a warmth to it I wasn’t expecting. It reminded me a lot of terry Pratchett, possibly due to the use of footnotes, which is never a bad thing in my eyes. Pratchett, not necessarily the footnotes…

The characters are described brilliantly and each individual demon has it’s own personality and character that is easy to imagine. I loved the pacing of the story. As you can imagine for something that takes places only over a few pages it moves at a breakneck pace but yet still finds time to actually tell the story. Nothing feels left out.

I’ve seen a few posts on Goodreads about the British sense of humour in the book. Well I’m British so to me it was just funny. I just loved all of it. A delightful, book aimed at young adults but can be read by adults of any age who want a short term break from the real world.

Highly recommended